Abstract

HARA MasayaGraduate student, School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University

This paper examines the strategies of small-scale farmers that enable them cope with fluctuations in food production according to changes in national agricultural policy in north-western Zambia. Maize is the most important staple food in Zambia. The maize cultivation started when the colonial government set up food supply systems for urban workers. In Zambia, small-scale farmers earn a cash income through selling maize and its cultivation relies on subsidised fertiliser provided by the government. Changes in the national agricultural policy are affected by the political situation. Maize yields are fluctuated by delivery delays of the fertilisers. In north-western Zambia, the indigenous Kaonde concentrate on growing maize and sorghum, whereas the Lunda, Luvale, Chokwe, and Luchazi immigrants from other areas mostly grow cassava. The indigenous Kaonde experience hunger during the off-crop season for grains and sustain their self-sufficient lifestyle by obtaining cassava grown by the immigrants. Small-scale farmers do not depend on maize cultivation. The Kaonde are able to obtain cassava from the immigrants during the hunger period, therefore they have realised regional food security in the local community.

Hunger, Poverty and Economic Differentiation Generated by Traditional Custom in Villages in the Sahel, West Africa

OYAMA ShuichiThe Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University

In recent years, hunger and poverty have become increasingly serious problems for crop farmers and livestock herders in the Sahel region of West Africa. Hausa villages in central southern Niger reveal a high degree of economic differentiation between households. While most households suffer from food shortages, a small number of wealthy households maintain large surpluses of farm produce. This paper examines the local contexts of economic differentiation and the role of a common traditional custom in West Africa, namely, encampment contracts among crop farmers and herders. All of the farmers in the villages seek encampment contracts with herders, but many are unable to raise the cash and crop payments required to enter into such contracts. The supply of nutrients to the soil via manure from the herders’ livestock means that these contracts act as a kind of advance investment for farmers. The encampment contracts allow Fulbe and Tuareg herders to move their livestock around freely to graze on vegetation anywhere, regardless of who owns the farmland where they are grazing, but at night they always return to camp on the contracted farmer’s plot. The majority of villagers are robbed of nutrients for their soil, which are transferred to soil on the land of wealthy farmers via manure from the herders’ livestock. Economic differentiation within the village is exacerbated and food shortages are rendered long-term by the encampment contracts that wealthy villagers are able to use cash reserves earned in urban areas.

Economic Differentiation and Safeguard Against Hunger in Southern Niger of Sahel Region: Agro-landscape and Multi-purpose Tree Use of Hausa Farmers

KIRIKOSHI HitomiThe Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University

This paper focused on the multi-purpose use of trees on farmland and people’s responses against food shortages in a Hausa village of southern Niger. People living in Sahel region on Niger face the challenge of unstable agricultural production. The challenge is linked to the high levels of poverty in the region. This region has desertification problem as land degradation. At the same time as advancing desertification, the population is rapidly increasing. The combined factors of land degradation and rapid population increase reduce available agricultural land per capita and lead to food insecurity, and the inhabitants of the Sahel region experience chronic food shortages. The wealth households own large farmland, and they are able to produce sufficient pearl millet for their staple food to support their livelihoods throughout the year. In the poor harvest years, they have sufficient money to purchase staple foods. However, many of the other households struggle to survive each year, and they are unable to invest to the following year’s agricultural production. This situation cause the economic differentiation in the village. But from the situation of tree management in the village, the wealth households manage Balanites aegyptiaca on their farmland to provide famine food for the poor households. The poor people can obtain leaves and fruits of B. aegyptiaca at the farmlands of the wealth households. This free access to famine food indicates existence of a safety net against food shortages in Hausa villages.

Unstable Landownership and Economic Differentiation Among Female-headed Households in Rural Area of Southwestern Uganda

NAKAZAWA MeiGraduate student, School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University

It exists gender role among husbands and wives in African rural societies, they perform their own duties and try to secure their livelihoods. In recent years, the number of female-headed households tends to increase globally. Female-headed households are low socio-economic status than male-headed households. In Republic of Uganda of research country, female-headed households accounted for 30% of all households. This paper aims to clarify the economic differentiation among female-headed households focusing on the causes of separation from their spouses, the landownership and income and expenditure in households. Through field survey, it was clear to exist the gap of economic conditions among female-headed households, and the landownership was one factor to give raise to economic differentiation. The economic resources of the spouses and the separation from the spouses greatly influenced whether women can obtain the landownership or not. Landowing households engage in agricultural work and cash income-generating activities, and secure their own livelihoods. On the other hand, other women are unable to own land, and instead try to rent land. Even though women engage in agricultural work in rented land, it is difficult for them to cover the living costs. It suggests that the economic differentiations are expanding among female-headed households in this region. It must consider how to support vulnerable women putting into the lowest socio-economic position in society.

Urbanization, Housing Problems and Residential Land Conflicts in Zambia

ZULU RichardInstitute of Economic and Social Research (INESOR), University of ZambiaOYAMA ShuichiCenter for African Area Studies, Kyoto University

Disparity in the patterns of development between rural and urban areas in Zambia has resulted in very high rural-urban migration with a lack of corresponding effort to provide appropriate housing in the expanding urban regions. This paper analyses the history of land administration, urban housing problems, and residential land conflicts in Zambia during the era of economic liberation and land commercialisation. A major problem is the fact that about 80% of national housing in Zambia is located in informal and unplanned settlements. Provision of services such as water, electricity, and sanitation in unplanned settlement areas is inadequate, resulting in floods and diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Zambia has experienced a critical shortage in housing since independence in 1964 when barriers to rural-urban migration were eliminated. The Zambian government enacted the 1995 Land Act, with the aim of stimulating the accumulation of capital and reducing poverty in the nation, and this significantly impacted land ownership and urban housing. The housing sector in Zambia is largely driven by “self-help housing” initiatives, but many residents are unable to afford construction costs and land rent. A serious potential problem is the disruption of social order due to competition for urban residential land and the radical responses of urban residents to land requisition by administrative subrogation.

Gender Inequality of High Income Households in Uganda: Exploring Women’s Rights to Land and Property at the Household Level

ASIIMWE Florence AkiikiDepartment of Sociology and Anthropology, Makerere University

This paper explores how women of high income households in Uganda are deprived of control over productive resources like land and property at the household level, keeping them in a subordinate position. This not only deprives them of power but also leads them into poverty in a process referred to as the ‘feminization of poverty’. Upon divorce or separation, women have to suddenly develop survival mechanisms after spending years in a subordinate economic role within the household. Inequity in land and property ownership rights not only intersects with patriarchal cultural attitudes and beliefs but also with a patriarchal legal framework to create obstacles to women’s empowerment. The findings in this paper revealed the cases well-educated woman contributed to the purchase of land and property, but she had no legal claim to the property. Another woman did not use their financial contribution for the acquisition of land and property, as leverage with her husband to ensure that his name was included on titles and deeds, she ended up retaining only use rights. In these cases the husband registered the property solely in his own name. The main contribution of this paper is to understand the complex dynamics of land and property ownership rights at the household level. This paper added to the existing knowledge on gender inequality of land rights in sub-Saharan Africa and in developing countries.

Development of Multifunctional Agriculture Studies in Western Scholarship: Limits of Post Productivism and Towards a New Paradigm in Rural Studies

ICHIKAWA Yasuo Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Amidst the globalization and environmental changes in farming worldwide since the 1990s, multifunctional agriculture (MFA) has attracted much debate as to whether the worth of farming and agricultural villages will be discovered anew. In trade liberalization negotiations with the WTO at the center, in particular, significant subsidies for farming and agricultural villages in developed countries have become a target for the reduction of international rules, leading to the MFA being used politically by various countries; mainly European countries that require protection for farming. This study aims to clarify the background behind the emergence of MFA and its concepts from the viewpoint of their application to field research, focusing on the English and French research on MFA. This study also aims to clarify the political context and theoretical background of MFA. The MFA theory was developed in relation with the post-production principle that was proposed in the 1990s. The dichotomy between the production and post-production principles or the conceptual limits of the post-production principle led to the expansion of the MFA theory and the debate developed around the conceptual studies on MFA. On the other hand, the lack of empirical research of the post-production principle is similar to the MFA theory and the positioning of the practice and application of MFA theory to field research is discussed, focusing on the concepts of the geographer Wilson. In the application of the MFA theory, it is important to review the impact of the MFA theory on farmers from the viewpoint of the relation to policy and to understand MFA in a wider regional framework. Furthermore, it is essential for MFA to focus on differences in the poltical context and the geographical scale of each country, as well as on the mutual interactions between the macro context and the micro farmer.